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Thursday April 18, 2024

Opposition to move adjournment motion against PC in Senate

ISLAMABAD: The Privatization Commission’s uncooperative attitude and persistent refusal to appear before the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue to brief it on the proposed privatization of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) and Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has perturbed the opposition lawmakers who have now decided to move an adjournment

By Israr Khan
October 06, 2015
ISLAMABAD: The Privatization Commission’s uncooperative attitude and persistent refusal to appear before the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue to brief it on the proposed privatization of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) and Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has perturbed the opposition lawmakers who have now decided to move an adjournment motion against the commission in the upper house.
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senator and Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue Saleem H. Mandviwalla says, “The committee has invited the Privatization Commission to brief it on the ongoing privatization of national strategic institutions like the PSM, PIA, etc more than couple of times, but they refused to come to the committee and every time presented a false schedule.”
Interestingly, the privatization commission has also not cooperated in the inquiry of Heavy Electrical Complex (HEC); the sub-committee had called Chairman Privatization Commission M Zubair, but he never came, he added.
“The commission wants to keep the people of Pakistan in dark, which is unacceptable. The PPP with other opposition parties will protest against the dictatorial attitude of Privatization Commission in and outside Parliament, he said.
Mandviwalla said, “The Chairman Privatization Commission is busy in the NA-122 election campaign mostly on TV talk shows and sometimes doing press conferences against the Pakistan Tehrik e Insaf (PTI) that’s why he
Doesn’t have time to brief Parliament on Privatization.”
Senator Mandviwalla said, “It is the style of the PML-N to destroy national institutions and sell them to their friends and cronies of Sharif brothers; it is the present government that brought the PSM and PIA near to closure so as to sell them at the lowest prices.”
Senator Mandviwalla blamed that the PML-N destabilized the PIA in the first phase to mature privatization.
The political administration of PIA cancelled 60 flights in a row, paving way for its privatization.
“The party is fighting with pilots and the PIA staff is deliberately not paid salaries on time and allowances for months so they apply and relocate to other airlines.”
The PPP senator stated that the PSM production capacity had reached zero, which was 30 to 40 percent during the PPP regime. What has the so-called experienced team of the PML-N done?
He demanded that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Federal Investigation Authority (FIA) and the superior judiciary should take notice of it.